


Family

by Jackxter



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Comedy, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Pancakes, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 07:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19902265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackxter/pseuds/Jackxter
Summary: Despite the human military not allowing our favorite monsters to leave the area around Mt. Ebbot, Frisk is determined to make the most of something she's never had before: a family.





	Family

A half-small circle of four log cabins sat in a clearing on the slopes of Mount Ebbot, their rustic appearances seemingly right out of a 19th century lumberjack’s life. Their current occupants were a tad bit more unusual than any lumberjack, however, as seen when a seven foot tall, hulking humanoid goat lumbered out the front door of one. She let out a deep yawn before stretching her limbs in the early morning’s light. In one of her furry paws she held a large mug of steaming coffee, which she eagerly sipped once it was cool enough. 

Even more strangely was what came out next to her: a young human girl no more than twelve years old. She smiled up at the kindly-looking goat lady, who smiled back.

“Good morning, Frisk. Did you have a good rest?” she asked. 

Frisk paused, a shiver going down her spine. Flashes of last night’s nightmare were still fresh in her mind. 

“... Have to say goodbye.”

_“... KILL OR BE KILLED!”_

_“... time for monsters to go free!”_

_“Prepare for unforseen consequences.”_

**_“ASRIEL DREEMURR!”_ **

Toriel looked at her worriedly. “Nightmares again?”

Frisk nodded gingerly. 

“You sure you don’t want to talk about them?”

Frisk shook her head. “They’re… kind of weird.”

“I understand,” Toriel said softly, kneeling down to her level. “Though after what you went through, it’s not strange that you’re having them.”

“B-But… what if they never go away?” Frisk gulped.

“They will in time - I’m sure of it,” Toriel smiled. “But until then… will some blueberry pancakes help?”

Frisk nodded eagerly at that. 

“Excellent. I just gathered a fresh batch last night,” Toriel chirped. “It’s amazing how much grows here on the surface compared to the underground.”

“Can I help make them?” Frisk asked hopefully.

“I was just about to ask,” Toriel said, beaming down at her. “Someone has to help stir the batter, after all.”

“OOOO, STIR THE BATTER?!” a new, loud voice called from one of the other nearby cabins. “ARE YOU MAKING PANCAKES?” 

Toriel chuckled to herself as one of her neighbors, a tall human skeleton wearing what seemed to be a Halloween costume, strode over to her and Frisk, his bones clicking and clacking over the light breeze.

“CAN I HELP?! THE GREAT PAPYRUS DESIRES TO EXPAND HIS COOKING REPERTOIRE!” 

Toriel withheld a sweat-drop, before returning Papyrus’s smile. “W-Why of course. I suppose another, er, stirrer wouldn’t hurt.”

“EXCELLENT! AS SOON AS I LEARN HOW, I SHALL WAKE SANS AND BEGIN COOKING MY OWN! THE PANCAKE SUPPLY WILL BE DOUBLED!.!.!” Papyrus proclaimed, nearly bouncing in excitement.

“Pancake party!” Frisk said, grinning. 

“HOORAH! NYEH HEH HEH!” 

At that, another new voice chimed in, this time coming from a gruff looking fish-like being, sauntering over from another cabin. Alongside her stood a shorter, nervous, lizard-like humanoid.

“Pffft, are you nerds seriously going to have a pancake party …” the former said with a sarcastic groan… before giving them a wide, pointy-tooth grin. “Without us?!” 

“Um, U-Undyne, isn’t it a little rude to invite ourselves?” Alphys simpered.

Undyne merely laughed. “Relax, we’re gonna be cooking our own. Just sayin’ we should all bring our stuff to the picnic table - find out who makes the best pancakes. Let’s make this a good ole fashioned cookoff!” 

Just then, the final cabin’s door flung open, a male version of Toriel stamping out. He held a spatula almost like he would a sword, his eyes flaring in determination. “Did somebody say… COOKOFF?!” 

The group merely blinked, gazing at the usually gentle-mannered monster in shock. Undyne, naturally, was the first to break out of it, laughing hysterically. 

“Oh wow, Asgore, seriously? It’s cookoffs of all things that get you going ham?”

Asgore returned the laugh, dropping the act. “Sorry if I startled anyone. It’s just been so long since …” He shifted his gaze away from Toriel. “Well, a little competition never hurt anyone.”

“I uh, didn’t mean for this to become a competition,” Toriel said, looking away from him as well. 

“Oh come on, Queen Toriel-- I mean Toriel,” Undyne said, grinning. “You scared of being beaten?”

“Well, no it’s just--”

“Then come on! Are you a goat monster?” Undyne’s unpatched eye narrowed. “Or a chicken monster?” 

Toriel returned the playful glare. “What’d you just call me?” 

“OOOO, YOU’RE IN FOR IT NOW!” Papyrus cackled. 

“U-Um, maybe we should just take deep breaths,” Alphys suggested.

“Too late for that!” Undyne continued grinning. “You heard me, Toriel. Bock bock bock!”

“That’s it,” Toriel said, puffing out her chest in exaggeration. “It’s on!” 

“On like Donkey Kong!” Asgore cheered. “I don’t even know what that means!” 

“THEN IT’S SETTLED!” Papyrus proclaimed. “I’M IN AS WELL - I SHALL LEARN BY DOING! ONE HOUR, ANY FLAVOR, MAY THE BEST MONSTER WIN!” 

And just like that, the group had split up, leaving all but Alphys and Frisk standing there. A second later, a flurry of kitchen utensils clattering and fire magic roaring could be heard.

“W-Well, that escalated quickly,” Alphys simpered. Frisk could only nod meekly in return.

\--

“Mmmm,” Frisk said, digging into a variety of different pancakes an hour later. Her along with the rest of the cabins’ occupants (including a tired looking Sans) sat at a large picnic table smack dab in the center of their circle, each enjoying a variety of breakfast items along with her. This was despite the strange, slight ethereal glow the food seemed to emit, along with mystical strands of sparkles. “This competition was the best idea ever, Undyne!” 

“Hehe, I do know how to get a good time goin’, don’t I?” Undyne said, giving another toothy grin. “Annnnd how to make some bangin’ pancakes.” 

“B-Bangin’?” Alphys said curiously. 

“Bangin’!” Undyne said proudly. “It’s human slang for ‘good’, I think! I dunno.” 

“Mmm, we’ll see who came out on top once our impartial judges finish,” Toriel said, gazing towards Sans and Frisk. “What do you think so far, Sans?”

“depends,” Sans said, taking another bite out of Papyrus’s experimental ‘ice cream pancakes. “who’s less likely to hurt me if I don’t make them the winner?” 

Undyne merely laughed. “Oh Sans, you know none of us would *ever* hurt you, even with all your slacking off.” She then gave an evil grin, before drawing a finger across her neck.

Sans’s eye sockets widened. “help, i’m being influenced by the competitors!” 

“Huh? Who could be doing that?” Undyne said innocently.

“PFFFFT!” Papyrus said. “SAVE YOUR THREATS! WE ALL KNOW WHO THE WINNER SHALL BE! I DON’T TRUST MY BROTHER, BUT MY BESTEST HUMAN FRIEND SURELY KNOWS GOOD CUISINE WHEN SHE TASTES IT!”

Frisk gave a thumbs up, smiling.

“NYEH HEH HEH!” 

“Uh huh,” Toriel smirked.

“oh ye of little faith,” Sans said, before giving a great yawn.

“Oh? We’re not boring you, are we, Sans?” Toriel joked.

He shook his head. “sorry, was just up late last night.”

Papyrus rolled his… pupils. “THAT’S THE THIRD TIME SINCE THE HUMANS MOVED US HERE! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING UP SO LATE?”

He shrugged. “oh, you know… just uh… learning about human culture.”

\--

As the moon hung in his cabin’s window, Sans sat on an old, dusty couch. In front of him was a grainy TV with an older looking DVD player hooked up to it. On it was a large balding man doing a strange dance. As a simple tune played in the background, he chanted:

“ _This is what I do I sit on you. Sit on you I sit on you. This is what I do I sit on you ...”_

Sans could do nothing but stare in awe. 

\--

“human comedy is genius,” he stated bluntly.

“RIGHT?” Papyrus beamed. “I’VE BEEN WATCHING SOMETHING CALLED SIGN-FELD.”

“your sign fell?” Sans said sarcastically. 

“WHAT? NO! IT’S THE NAME OF THE SHOW!” 

“Oooooh, I’ve been watching that, too!” Asgore nodded. “It is quite funny.” He then turned to Frisk, a confused look on his face. “However, the one thing I don’t get is where the laugher is coming from in the background. I never see anyone laughing on screen.”

“YES, I WAS CONFUSED AS WELL!”

“O-Oh, you mean the laugh track?” Alphys noted.

“LAUGH TRACK?” 

Alphys nodded. “H-Human comedy shows are often filmed in front of a live audience, like Mettaton’s! They like to keep the audience l-laughter in the background. I s-suppose it makes it easier for the v-viewer to laugh if t-they know someone else is with them.”

“seems like cheating to me,” Sans said bluntly. “just let the person watching decide what’s funny or not.”

“SANS! I’M SHOCKED!” Papyus gasped. “YOU’RE ACTUALLY TAKING A STAND ON SOMETHING?”

“guess you can say I have a _bone_ to pick with it,” he said, his grin growing wider.

Toriel and Frisk, naturally, broke into laughter.

“Did you only say that so you could make a skeleton pun?” Undyne said, clearly impressed. 

Sans merely shrugged. 

“I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WAS A TRAP!” Papyrus grumbled. “THERE’S ONLY ONE THING SANS PUTS SERIOUS EFFORT ON: COMEDIC SETUPS!”

“All roads lead to skeleton puns?” Toriel chirped.

“WITH HIM, YES!” 

“Pffft,” Undyne said. “I just wish the human soldiers would give us something new to watch. All they have in these cabins are old VHSes and DVDs from like ten years ago. It’s more than we had in the Underground, but still, I want that Netflix thing I’ve heard about! There’s a whole pile of new anime out there that I wanna dig into.” 

“I-I don’t think we’re g-getting that any time soon,” Alphys said somberly. “I t-think you need an i-internet connection for that.”

“I could try talking to them about it again,” Asgore offered. 

Undyne folded her arms. “Meh, don’t bother. Alphys is right - if the humans hooked us up with their internet, that’d be giving away all kinds of their secrets. They aren’t doing that any time soon.”

“don’t want us finding their best cat memes,” Sans chuckled.

Undyne gave him a glare, to which he smiled innocently at. 

“Maybe if I asked them?” Frisk said. 

Undyne shook her head. “No offense, squirt, but I don’t see them listening to you any more than Asgore here.” She then smirked, glancing at the fluffy king. “Then again, what if you two combined your power?” 

“Huh?” Asgore and Frisk said in unison, blinking. 

“SHE’S RIGHT!” Papyrus beamed. “YOU’RE BOTH ADORABLE IN YOUR OWN WAYS! TOGETHER, THE EFFECT WOULD BE DOUBLED!”

“It would _OVERWHELM_ their defenses! You’d be unstoppable!” Undyne continued enthusiastically. “QUICK! Practice making puppy dog eyes!” 

Toriel opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but quickly shut it. Instead, she merely furrowed her brow slightly. 

“I uh …” Asgore said, blushing slightly as Frisk giggled along to the display. 

“OH MY GOSH HE DIDN’T EVEN NEED TO MAKE A FACE!” Papyrus cheered. “IT JUST COMES NATURALLY TO HIM!” 

Sans leaned over towards Frisk. “little did we know, my bro was the most adorable all along,” he said to her quietly, earning another laugh out of her. 

“I HEARD THAT!” Papyrus called, now blushing himself. “AND I WILL NOT CONFIRM OR DENY THIS!” 

It was now Undyne’s turn to laugh. “Man, y’all are a bunch of goofy goobers, you know that?” 

“you mean ‘we’re’ a bunch of goofy goobers,” Sans smirked. 

“Pfffft, no!” Undyne said, before flexing exaggeratingly. “I’m too tough to be a goofy goober. Ain’t the right, Alphys?”

“Mhmmm,” she said, gazing at her muscles dreamingly. 

“Am I a goofy goober, too?” Toriel said hopefully.

“Of course you are!” Asgore said, earning a glare from her. “I-I mean only if that’s a good thing.”

“The goofiest of goobers!” Frisk said, sticking her tongue out, which Toriel smiled at. 

“FOR THE LOVE OF SPAGHETTI, CAN WE PLEASE STOP SAYING ‘GOOFY GOOBER’?!” Papyrus begged. “WHAT IS THAT EVEN FROM?!”

The group gazed at him, shocked. 

“You haven’t watched the Spongebob Squarepants Movie yet?” Toriel said, astounded.

“SPONGE… BOB?” Papyrus said. 

“Didn’t you cabin have a copy of it, dude?” Undyne said. “Oh my gosh, if not, you can borrow ours - you’d absolutely love it!”

Sans put on a devious grin. “oh, we have a copy. I just dunno if Papyrus is ready to handle to handle Spongebob yet.”

Papyrus looked astounded. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN HANDLE ANY HUMAN MOVIE!”

“so you _are_ ready then?” 

“OH, I’M READY! I’M READY! _I’M READY!_ ”

Sans’ grin once again grew wider than seemingly possible as Frisk, once again, giggled along.

“I KNOW THAT GRIN!” Papyrus said suspiciously. “DID I JUST BECOME A MEME?!” 

“Naw, but you quoted one, my dude,” Undyne smirked. 

Papyrus thought to himself for a second, before glaring. “CURSE YOUR ABILITY TO LURE ME INTO THESE TRAPS!” 

Sans winked at him. “bet you’re curious about Spongebob now, though.”

He folded his arms. “I REFUSE TO BE SO BAMBOOZLED!” 

“What if we all watched it together tonight?” Toriel offered, smiling Papyrus’s way. 

Papyrus lightened up slightly at that. “WELL, I WOULDN’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THE FUN, I SUPPOSE!” 

Asgore smiled hopefully Toriel’s way, to watch she nodded silently at. He immediately took a deep breath of relief. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Undyne nodded. “You up for watching it again, Alphys?”

“W-Why not go further? W-Why don’t we make it a big movie night?” Alphys suggested.

“I CONCUR WITH THIS!” Papyrus beamed. “IN FACT, I SHALL BEGIN PREPARING THE SNACKS IMMEDIATELY!” He sat up from the table and looked as if he was preparing to walk away.

“Hang on, Papyrus!” Frisk said. 

“HMMM?” 

“Don’t you wanna see who won the pancake competition?” she said, smiling.

His eye sockets widened. “I ALMOST FORGOT!” 

“Yeah, who’s it gonna be?” Undyne said, before throwing Sans a wicked grin. “No pressure or anything.”

“hmmmm,” Sans said, taking another bite out of each pancake before him, Frisk quickly following in his footsteps. “since nobody made any ketchup pancakes, I gotta go with the next best thing: blueberry pancakes are _bonea_ fied _blue_ tiful.”

“YES!” Toriel cheered, pumping two fists in the air. “I am the pancake master!” She promptly lowered her fists, simpering slightly when she noticed the group’s bemused looks. “I mean, um, thank you, Sans!” 

“TWO PUNS IN A ROW,” Papyrus said to himself, shaking his head in awe. “HE’S UNSTOPPABLE.”

Undyne narrowed her unpatched eye, putting on a mock stern smirk. “It’s on now, funny bones. Buuuut Frisk still has a chance to save you.”

“Hmmmm,” Frisk said, a ponderous look on her face. “I’m sorry, Undyne, and um, Sans-”

“eh, it’s fine. she won’t hurt me too badly.”

“--but the chocolate chip pancakes were just sooo good.”

At that moment, Asgore’s expression brightened to a point that hadn’t been seen in years. “W-Why… thank you, young one.”

Undyne rolled her unpatched eye. “Meh, I’m okay with this. But what now? We got a tie.”

“Hmmm, m-maybe we should have had more than two judges in a four contestant competition,” Alphys simpered.

“INDEED! WE COULD USE A THIRD JUDGE! I VOLUNTEER!” Papyrus proclaimed. “I VOTE FOR MYSELF! NYEH HEH HEH!”

“that just makes it a three-way tie, bro,” Sans pointed out.

“WORTH IT!” 

“G-Guess I’ll vote, too,” Alphys simpered. “U-Um, whoever made the banana pancakes must be a pretty great chef!” 

“And you have absolutely no idea who made them?” Undyne said, smiling down at her.

“N-Nope, none whatsoever!”

Toriel chuckled lightly. “That settles it then, a four way tie. We’re all winners!” 

“Hah! That is so unbelievably corny,” Undyne cackled, before simpering slightly. “Buuut kind of cute, too.”

“Indeedy,” Asgore said, a smile still on his face. “Now, on that note, though I hate to barge off like this without helping to clean up, I have a meeting with Captain Harkness at noon.”

“W-Wait what? H-How long have we been doing this?” Alphys asked.

“A few hours,” Asgore noted, before glancing at a watch (its strap modified for his arm size). “Oh dear. It’s 11 already. Shoot, the Captain is always so punctual, too. I’d hate to be late on him.”

“Bleh, who cares what that creep thinks,” Undyne grumbled. 

Asgore sighed. “Undyne…”

“No seriously! That dude gets on my nerves. Yesterday, I totally caught him spying on me ...”

\--

A day before, Undyne jogged down a lonely forested path, barely breaking a sweat as she moved along. 

“Underseas bless this cool air,” she said to herself, pausing for a quick second to bask in the early morning breeze. “Gotta make sure to find that stream today. Wish I had brought my map.”

“Oh, at the next fork, turn left,” a familiar voice called from behind her.

She twirled about, rapidly searching for the origin of it with a menacing look on her face. 

“Captain?! Was that you?! For the love of-- this is the second time this week!”

…

A beat.

“... Nobody here but us bushes.” 

With a glare, Undyne folded her left, finned hand into a fist and ignited it, the glow of fire magic now emanating from it.

“Next bush that speaks is getting trimmed.” 

...

“... I meant trees.”

“GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” she roared, before flinging a fireball as a warning shot above the origin of the voice.

“Yep yep point taken!” the ‘bush’ said, the sound of rustling brush and frantic bootsteps soon following. 

\--

“I uh … convinced him to cut it out,” Undyne said, smiling innocently. 

“WITH YOUR MOUTHWORDS, RIGHT?!” Papyrus asked, grinning. 

“Yeah, with my mouth words!” 

Asgore shook his head in exasperation. “Undyne, we’ve gone over this before …”

She folded her arms. “Yeah, yeah, I get this is human turf and they have the right to keep an eye on us and all, but what do they think we’re gonna do, anyway? They have this whole mountain locked down. Them being creepers is just overkill.”

“We don’t even know if that’s what he was doing,” Toriel noted. “Meeting him could have just been a coincidence.”

“Yuh huh …”

Asgore nodded. “Indeed. And though it is their right to monitor us, I’m sure the good captain respects our privacy more than that.”

\--

“So, what do you see, Jenkins?” 

“Pancakes.”

“Pancakes?”

“They’re having a bunch of different pancakes,” the private said. “And they look good, too, Captain. Heck, so good it actually looks like they’re, uh, glowing kind of. Did I mention I never got a chance to eat this morning?” 

A good quarter mile away, a make-shift observation tower stretched just above the treeline, giving two figures a clear view of the Monsters’ half-circle of cabins with the help of a pair of binoculars. 

“Huh, they must have cooked with their, er, fire magic again,” Captain Harkness said. “Seems to lace their food with whatever energy it’s made of. Can I take a peek?”

“You’re the boss,” the private shrugged, handing the captain his binoculars before pulling out a small pack of peanuts from a pocket on his military overhauls, popping it open, and shoving a handful into his mouth. 

“Hmmm,” Captain Harkness said, gazing at the group of monsters himself now. “Kid’s with them. Looks like she’s enjoying herself, too.”

“Yeah …” Private Jenkins grunted, speaking while chewing. “Am I the only one a little weirded out by that?” 

“A kid enjoying herself?” Captain Harkness joked.

Jenkins rolled his eyes. “You know what I meant.” 

“It’s a strange circumstance, sure,” the captain said. “But it also tells us something interesting.”

“That the kid read ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ too many times?” Jenkins suggested. 

The captain chuckled at that. “Tell me, Jenkins, you’ve seen some shit before, right?”

“Once or twice,” Jenkins nodded. “But what does that have to do with--”

“Pretty high stress situation, combat, isn’t it?” the captain continued. 

“Yes, sir,” Jenkins said firmly. 

“For both you and your squad, right?”

Jenkins nodded again. 

“Before you went through all that, your squad were just friends at best, strangers at worst, right?” Captain Harkness asked. “But after, how did you feel about each other?”

“We were practically brothers and sisters to each other,” Jenkins said matter of factly. “Almost closer than… closer than family.”

“Exactly,” the captain smiled. 

Jenkins stood quietly for a moment, contemplating the Captain’s words. “So you’re saying …”

“Yup,” the captain nodded. “You put a group of individuals through the gauntlet together, it doesn’t matter how different they are - in personality, appearance, whatever - when they come out …”

“Welded together in the flames of turmoil,” Jenkins said.

“Poetically put, and that’s right,” the captain said. “And if that’s the case, maybe these ... creatures are more like us than we could have ever imagined.”

**Author's Note:**

> A side story of my Unending universe I'm creating, a merger of multiple universes, though you won't need to read the main fic to get what's going on here.


End file.
